The New School is a progressive university with its main campus in New York City. We are the only university to house a world-renowned design school, liberal arts college, performing arts college, and legendary graduate programs. Students collaborate across disciplines and learn new ways of creative problem solving to effect positive change in the world.

The groundbreaking research and work done by our students, alumni, and faculty expands and redraws conventional boundaries. Explore work defined by rigorous methodology, deep exploration, and human-inspired problem solving.

No matter the area of study, New School students graduate with creative problem-solving skills that change how they investigate, contribute to, and live in the world. Explore inspiring stories from our entrepreneurial alumni, and learn more about how we help prepare you for life after graduation.

Whether you want to study design, social sciences, liberal arts, management and policy or performing arts, we have the information you need to apply and the support you need to navigate the application and financial aid process.

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Riggio Honors Program

The Riggio Honors Program, Writing and Democracy, offers gifted undergraduate students at The New School an opportunity to investigate language and democratic expression across a spectrum of cultural, political, social, and artistic experiences. The honors program is supported by the Leonard and Louise Riggio Writing and Democracy Initiative, an endowment with the mission to accent "the writer in the world." It extends to undergraduate writers the resources of The New School's distinguished graduate program in Creative Writing and includes a scholarship for qualified students.

The Riggio program fosters a community of writers through regular student readings and other peer-group activities, including an award-winning literary magazine, 12th Street, edited and published by Writing and Democracy honors students. The work of students and faculty is featured on the writing and democracy documentary website.

The 32-credit curriculum consists of writing workshops (fiction, nonfiction, poetry), literature seminars, and a thesis project. Students also earn credit for attending the Writer's Life Colloquium, an ongoing series of public readings, literary forums, lectures, and symposia.

Graduates of the Riggio program go on to graduate school and/or careers in writing, journalism, politics, human rights organizations, teaching, publishing (print and online), entertainment media, international affairs, cultural studies, and media.

The Riggio program is designed for Liberal Arts majors in the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students at The New School. Credits earned are applied to the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor Science degree in Liberal Arts. A writing portfolio is required for admission to the Riggio program. Students who need to build a portfolio can take courses from the broad curriculum of writing workshops offered by The New School.

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Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.